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Mois : avril 2007

Fabbing might be a coming revolution: far more accessible than nanotechnology, it would allow people to have a mini-industry at home to build common objects.
In coming months, my project it to build one of these 3D printers, that will be self-replating itself to spread fabbing in few places like Toulouse, Berlin or Madrid.

I’ve discovered RepRap this weekend, it seems the best options to follow, a great community around a small budget printer (400$ is their goal).
Now, let’s get it in practice, that’s a really extended project: electronic, software, mechanic, … a lot a new skills to learn!

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

After discussing with David about The Fountain movie, he redirected me to Ayn Rand that inspired the movie script with her novel The FountainHead. Links after links, I finally reached the purpose of this search: Objectivism, a libertarian movement that could answer a lot of the recursive questions I had last few weeks.

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
â€” Ayn Rand, Appendix to Atlas Shrugged

« Objectivism holds that there is no greater moral goal than achieving happiness. But one cannot achieve happiness by wish or whim. Fundamentally, it requires rational respect for the facts of reality, including the facts about our human nature and needs. Happiness requires that one live by objective principles, including moral integrity and respect for the rights of others. »

« Objectivism is optimistic, holding that the universe is open to human achievement and happiness and that each person has within him the ability to live a rich, fulfilling, independent life. »

« In the course of life, we all encounter specific conflicts between our spiritual and our physical values (as well as conflicts within each category), but there is no inherent, global conflict between these aspects of our nature. Indeed, our most important activities serve the needs of body and soul, together. We live best when our reason and emotion are in harmony, for example. We know true love when we combine mental esteem with physical passion. Productive work is both a means of earning our daily bread and an expression of our creative powers. »

Life

March has been a month out, the experiement I’d like to continue during coming years. It’s surely a bit tiring, spending only 10 days out of 30 at a place called â€œhomeâ€, but things to see are so infinites that I could have spent these 10 days out to another place to discover/enjoy new things.

First in Spain, to burn a perfectly ‘lucky’ christmas gift, and to visit David&Maria from Las Indias. 10 days of pure blossom, confronting ideas with freakies living in the same strange world, one foot in reality, one foot in virtuality. Meeting David&Sarah from San Fransisco, ad discover with them inner-Spain, small corners of a country unavailable to common tourists. That have been a great time to start this new travel, joining a new team to continue on the trip, and getting to understand this â€œFeel Happyâ€ philosophy.

The time to wash my clothes back to Toulouse, and time to take another train to Lyon to visit Fred. Now it’s time to learn how to live in a new lifestyle: meeting people during the day, leaving them to sleep at night while working, and having breakfast with them in the morning before to go to sleep while they work during the day. Feeling great, until the nights where you’ve drink so much that you’re not able to do anything useful in the night when everybody else is sleeping 🙂 And as typical after meeting Fred, I’m back from Lyon with a lot of life’s lessons to put my theeth on, things are going forward.

Movies

The Fountain: this movie has been so ravaging that it shadows all other movies watched during this month. I couldn’t recommend it due to particular conditions while watching it, and it would be this kind of movie I’ll respect without being able to watch it again in the same conditions.(click to view trailer)

Books

Louves de Mer: first book I’ve found about XVI’s century pirates, and as all novels I love, main characters are women. The story of 2 women evolving in a man world, finding their way to the top. Love, passion, strange feelings in disguise when people have to trust their hearth to discover the truth below the appearance.